Indoor Cycling Speed: Why Slower & How to Improve

You can ride a bike fast outside. You might not be Tadej Pogacarbut you could drop the average office worker. Your power numbers have improved in recent years, and you’re feeling pretty good.

But then you jump on the trainer, and that good feeling goes away. Your motivation dips as soon as you see your power number on the screen. Surely, that can’t be right. So you hop off the trainer, turn it off and turn it back on again. You recalibrate it, check for a firmware update, and then log back in.

Same exact power numbers. What the hell happened??

Feeling slower on the indoor trainer isn’t a unique phenomenon. Millions of cyclists have felt this way, so you can breathe a sigh of relief. There are many different reasons why you might feel slower on the trainer. Luckily, there are ways to fix them.

Reason #1: Misaligned Setup

In 2019, I started getting lower back pain on the indoor trainer. The pain was localized on the left side of my lower back, and it was an ache that I had never experienced in nearly a decade of cycling. I checked my position, ensuring that neither the seatpost nor handlebars had slipped. My cleats were still in alignment, and the bike seemed to be completely fine. And then I checked my trainer.

The trainer was tilting a few degrees to the left. I had taken my bike off just two weeks prior, but when I put it back on, I didn’t push the dropouts all the way onto the trainer’s skewer. That minor misalignment made its way up to my back without me even noticing. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard of a rider setting up their indoor bike without checking to ensure it’s level.

Every time you move or adjust your indoor training setup, align the trainer with your bike, ensure the feet are level, and match the position as closely as you can to your outdoor position. Depending on your pain cave, you might need to stick some cardboard under the feet of your trainer, or use an old book to prop up your front wheel. Most new trainers come with adjustable feet for this very reason. But if you’re using an older model, you might need to do some MacGyvering.

If you don’t feel great on the indoor trainer, don’t worry about your power numbers just yet. First, give yourself an indoor bike fit.

Reason #2: Overheating

Most of us underestimate the effects that heat and humidity have on our body, especially during exercise. An elevated core temperature can lead to rapid performance deterioration, especially in an enclosed environment like a pain cave.

Much like a bonk can sap the energy from your legs, overheating can leave you feeling completely empty.

Keeping your indoor training space cool and dry will have a direct impact on your performance. The hotter the room, the worse your performance. Even those who thrive in the heat can experience performance degradation in hot conditions.

Elevated core temperature is not something that you can feel accurately. Hence, the growing popularity of internal sensors like the CORE Body Temperature Sensorwhich is used by the Hundreds of Pros Including Tadej Pogacar.

By the time that you feel hot, it’s already too late. That’s why your performance may start to decline before you feel overheated.

The next time you feel slow on the indoor trainer, check the temperature and humidity in your indoor training space. For your next ride, try turning on the AC, opening the window to let the breeze in, or filling your jersey with ice packs (or just use an ice vest). Drinking cold fluids is another simple but effective solution. Anything you can do to keep your body cool can have a direct impact on your cycling performance.

Reason #3: Physics

Now I’m not a physicist, but I know there is a difference between riding outdoors versus indoors. One involves momentum while the other leaves you stationary.

When you’re outdoors, there is a different feeling that you get when you pedal. You can feel the bike moving under you, the wind on your face, and the feedback of the pavement on your tires. Your body makes those little micro-adjustments that you need to ride a bike without training wheels, and you can feel gravity fighting you on every hill.

On the indoor trainer, there is very little feedback that you get on the bike. You can feel resistance from the trainer, but that’s about it. There isn’t any wind, gravity, momentum, or grippiness. Many cyclists struggle with this lack of feedback. It’s unnatural, especially if you grew up riding a bike outside. And there isn’t much you can do to improve the feeling other than practice it.

Rocker plates and motion platforms are popular solutions, providing you with some feedback on the indoor trainer. Some of these devices enable multiple planes of movement, while others limit it to fore-aft. Either way, it’s better than nothing, and many riders prefer the movement over static.

Reason #4: You Don’t Ride the Indoor Trainer Enough

When humans first learn to walk, they are stumbly and unsure. It may take months, or even years, to find surefooted balance. But eventually, they will be able to walk with confidence.

Riding an indoor trainer, much like walking, is not an innate skill. Pedaling must be learned, especially when it comes to indoor cycling. Sometimes the most obvious answer is the truest: maybe you can’t produce good power numbers on the trainer because you don’t ride indoors enough.

When you learned how to drive a car, did you start practicing every day, or driving twice a month? If you drove every day, you probably got the hang of it quite quickly. But if you only drove a few times per month, it might have taken you a long time to gain confidence behind the wheel.

If you only ride the indoor trainer once or twice per month, you will never match your outdoor power numbers. But if you commit to riding the trainer a hundred times per year, you will find yourself generating much more power for the same exact effort.

The more you ride the indoor trainer, the better and stronger you will get on the indoor trainer – It’s simple, but true. You may sacrifice some of your outdoor strength to improve on the trainer, but that depends on your goals. If you live in the Midwest and it’s the middle of winter, you might as well commit to the trainer because you know you’re going to be here a while.

Before you start riding inside seven days a week, ensure your trainer is set up perfectly. Check that everything is in alignment, and that the position is as comfortable as your outdoor position.

Keep yourself cool in as many ways as you can. If it is a cold winter, simply opening up the window could do the trick.

Remember that indoor and outdoor cycling will never feel the same. But you can add movement to your indoor setup with various devices, add-ons, or rocker plates.

Lastly, the best way to improve at something is to do it over and over and over again. If you want to improve your indoor training power numbers, practice riding the indoor trainer. Pay close attention to your body during each session, and you might notice little areas for improvement. Take notes, and try something new in the next session. You never know what small changes might lead to a big difference.